Snowshoer 'down but not out'

Published 7:00 pm, Friday, February 25, 2005

Disabled snowshoer Doug Finkbeiner is resting in his Saginaw home after two severe hamstring strains forced him off the trail.

He is, however, determined to press on when able.

"I'm down but not out," Finkbeiner said.

"I plan to continue as soon as I get healthy … I've lost a leg, I have a pacemaker, I have arthritis in my hip, so I'm not about to let a hamstring injury stop me from achieving my goal."

Finkbeiner had reached the Mackinac Bridge when he began experiencing pain in his leg, which was amputated below the knee due to a motorcycle accident in 1986.

Despite the pain, he continued his trip. He had reached Tehquamenon Falls in the Upper Peninsula, about 300 miles into the planned 660-mile hike, before the pain became unbearable.

"Every step, it was like stabbing me in the thigh with an ice pick," he said.

He was evaluated by Dr. Marilyn Staines, who advised him to temporarily halt his trip and seek physical rehabilitation.

"He has some muscle atrophy there from his history of having the amputation," Staines said. "So, he's going to have to work real hard to get that back."

Although Finkbeiner is disappointed, he said the decision to go home last weekend was the right one to make.

"If I would have kept going I would have torn it up and it would have been surgery. I would have literally torn the muscle," he said.

He is undergoing therapy at Saginaw Physical Therapy and Rehab Specialists. He said his therapist believes the injury will heal within three weeks.

Finkbeiner hopes to begin his hike again in April. He plans to either start near the falls where he stopped or begin at his original ending point in Ironwood, Mich., and walk the entire 660-mile trip back.

"I feel bad about not doing it straight through," he said. "Maybe there will be a little more motivation. I'll be walking home this time."